When an emergency situation occurs in an occupied building, the people present may not know the best way to avoid danger. For example, a hotel guest sleeping at night may be startled at the sound of a fire alarm. Following the alarm, the guest needs to determine the best route for escape, with the fire escape sign on the back of the hotel door providing the only guidance. Generally, the guest requires more information about the emergency to increase the odds of escaping successfully and to prevent the loss of life.
Current emergency systems do not tell people in a building the best way to escape when an emergency situation occurs. Standard emergency systems only sound a loud alarm, which may cause people to panic because of the lack of information about their situation. Additionally, the best escape route may vary for different locations in the building and the site of the emergency situation. Current emergency systems do not account for this possibility.
The current state of the art for an emergency system for a building consists of two components: detection of an emergency and notification that an emergency exists. A smoke detector demonstrates the two-step approach: the sensor on the detector senses a fire and then the detector's alarm sounds. The information provided by the alarm does not convey enough information to people on how to escape the emergency.
Therefore, a need exists for a system that can quickly inform people about the best escape route in a simple fashion.